The School of Life

An interactive guide to our complex and elusive inner selves.

One of the most difficult tasks we face as humans is figuring out who we are. "Describe yourself" can be a surprisingly difficult task. Sometimes, we need prompts and suggestions to engage and energize us.

With unusual, entertaining, and playful exercises, this journal is designed to help us tease out and organize who we are. With beautiful designs by Marcia Mihotich throughout and mini essays on topics like relationships and work, this book shows us how our complicated, beautiful, and sometimes painful experiences all contribute to the richness of who we are.

• UNCONVENTIONAL AND PROVOCATIVE QUESTIONS to prompt honest self-reflection.
• AN INTERACTIVE JOURNAL OF SELF DISCOVERY with space for written answers.
• FULL COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT
• A COLLECTION OF MINI ESSAYS on topics like relationships, work, and culture.

Alain de Botton's redemptive volume charts a course from collapse to recovery with kindness, compassion and wisdom.

“Alain de Botton, one of our era’s most uncommonly perceptive, lyrical, and lucid existential contemplatives.” — The Marginalian

A Therapeutic Journey is a collection of essays about mental challenge and health. Written with kindness, knowledge and sympathy, it is a practical guide to well-being and a source of consolation and companionship in what might be some of our loneliest, most anguished moments.

Alain de Botton explores how we can cope with a variety of forms of mental pain and illness, from the mild to the severe. It considers how and why we might become ill; how we can explain things to friends, family and colleagues; how we can find our ways towards recovery; and how we can build resilience, so as to live wisely alongside our difficulties.

At heart this is a book about happiness - about regaining the thread of our lives, rediscovering meaning, and finding our way back to connection, warmth and joy.

This book explores ideas around minimalism, simplicity and how to live comfortably with less.

We live in a complicated, frenzied, and noisy world, filled with too much information, too many products, ideas, and opinions. As a result, many of us long for simplicity: a pared down, more peaceful, and less cluttered life. 

This book is a guide to the simpler lives we crave and deserve. In it, we learn about Zen Buddhism, modernist architecture, monasteries, psychoanalysis, and why three good friends and a few treasured belongings are enough. 

Taking a psychological approach, the book also guides us toward inner simplicity. For too long we've been drowning in excess, clutter, and confusion. A Simpler Life helps us tune out the static and focus on what really matters.

• DECLUTTER YOUR LIFE practical ways to get rid of physical and psychological clutter.
• HOW TO BE DIRECT advice on adopting a simpler, more straight-forward mindset.
• THE APPEAL OF MINIMALISM looks at why more of us are drawn to a pared down existence.
• HOW TO SIMPLIFY everything from relationships, social life, lifestyle, and work.

An insightful and consoling guide to the melancholic state of mind.

This is a book that celebrates the most neglected but valuable emotion we can feel: melancholy. Melancholy isn’t depression, rage, or bitterness.  It’s a serene, wise, and kindly response to the difficulties of being alive. It helps us navigate a wise and rational middle ground between extreme despair and naïve optimism.

But melancholy is a well-kept secret. It isn't celebrated or recommended. It remains relatively unexplored in a hyper-competitive, noisy, frantic age.

This book carefully collects and interprets a wide range of universally recognizable forms of melancholy, rendering us less confused by our precious yet elusive feelings. We discover everything from the melancholy of a Sunday evening and the melancholy of adolescence to the melancholy of parties and the infatuated melancholy of having a crush.

Offering a rich and varied portrait of melancholy and its range of emotions, this book leads the reader toward deeper insight, more authentic acceptance, and more honest self-compassion.

• AN IN-DEPTH EXPLORATION OF A COMPLEX EMOTION through the lens of art, architecture, literature, and philosophy.
• HOW TO INTERPRET AND ACCEPT our melancholy moods.
• INCREASE SELF AWARENESS through meditating on melancholy.
• EXAMINES 35 VARIETIES OF MELANCHOLY including: Dating and Melancholy, Loneliness and Melancholy, Adolescence and Melancholy, and Politics and Melancholy.

Therapeutic exercises to help couples nurture patience, forgiveness, and humor. 

Love is not just an emotion - it's a skill. And just like any other skill, we need to practice in order to get good at it. 

We often have fairy tale expectations for our romantic relationships, but realistically, after a heady and passion-fueled start, we end up in partnerships that are a confusing tangle of hope, distance, boredom, loyalty, and betrayal. 

Full of accessible and though-provoking exercises, this workbook fosters understanding, patience, forgiveness, humor, and resilience in the face of the many hurdles that invariably arise in a long term relationship. 

Couples are guided to have particular conversations, analyze their feelings, explain parts of themselves to one another, and undertake rituals that clear the air and help recover hope and passion. The goal is always to unblock channels of feeling and improve communication - and to have fun while doing it.

No one can be intuitively good at relationships. We all need to do some homework to become the best partners and couples we can be.

• A GUIDED JOURNAL WITH OVER 60 EXERCISES to encourage couples to share their feelings with each other and open up about their insecurities.
• A THERAPEUTIC WORKBOOK drawing from research from The School of Life’s therapy department.
• INCLUDES INTERACTIVE SPACES to complete the activities and illustrations throughout.
• BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED hardcover in high end gift format.

A practical and playful guide to balancing and maintaining physical and mental harmony.

The modern world can present the body as a machine that just needs to be regularly exercised. However, it is a remarkably sensitive organ in which a lot of our pain and hope is stored and that we need to interpret and handle with subtlety. This impact of our body upon our mind is something which needs to be explored as it is easy to pay attention to one more than the other and to ignore the crucial balance between the two.

This is a book filled with reflections and exercises designed to help us live more harmoniously and maturely within both mind and body. It gives guidance on how to calm our minds with bodily exercises that work on the real sources of our anxieties. It suggests how to be less rigid in, and timid about, our bodies and how to relax into them in a way we might not have done for far too long. It offers ideas on how to accept the way we look, and how to treat the body in order for it to assist the mind in yielding its very best ideas. The impacts of activities such as singing, dancing and art are explored along with the liberation of spirit that these might offer.

This is a book, both theoretical and practical, that will improve our relationship between our physical and mental selves and allow us a route to a life of greater self-assurance, wisdom, and freedom to be ourselves.

*Contains explicit/adult content

• BLENDING THE PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL with playful exercises backed by research.
• A RANGE OF EXERCISES you can do anytime, anywhere.
• DISCOVER THE POWER OF THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION and tap into your body’s innate wisdom.
• CULTIVATE CALM by connecting to your body and surroundings.
• BODY NEUTRALITY learn to accept and feel comfortable with how you look.

Whether or not we believe in religion, many of us feel drawn toward a spiritual life. Maybe we love cathedral architecture, Mozart's Requiem, or Buddhist literature.The School of Life is a secular organization fascinated by the gaps left in modern society by the gradual disappearance of religion. They're interested in how hard it is to find a sense of community, why rituals are dying out, and when we crave the solemn quiet only found in religious buildings. This book lays out how we might absorb the best lessons of religion, update them for our times and incorporate them into our daily lives and societies-without taking on the theological or doctrinal elements.

When Socrates was asked to define our highest purpose as humans, he said, “To know ourselves.”  This advice holds true. Without self-knowledge, all other efforts are in vain. 

The second title in the '40 Images' series, Self-Knowledge in 40 Images takes us on a tour of certain key ideas that we need to befriend our deeper selves, accompanied by the work of photographers and artists such as David Hockney, Cy Twombly, Edgar Degas, Isabella La Rocca González and Elise Corten. Featuring culturally and historically diverse artwork alongside a series of elegant essays inviting contemplation, this book helps us to understand how our childhoods have shaped us, what difficulties we characteristically experience in relationships and what our purpose should be. 

Modern society gives us no shortage of ambitions. We will have landed on the one that can finally brings us peace and freedom when we are ready – with the help of this book – to begin the inward journey: self knowledge.

Pair with the Know Yourself Prompt Cards, designed to help lead you through the important task of knowing yourself a little better in life.

The follow-up to What Are You Feeling, a 2023 Eureka Honor Award Winner

A children’s guide to emotional empathy—follow Detective Feelings as he helps people identify and investigate their feelings 

It’s important to think about what others might be feeling, so we can understand the people around us better and be a good friend. Sometimes, it can be difficult to guess what someone else might be feeling, or their emotions may not be what we expect. 

What Are They Feeling? takes children on an exploration of the feelings of others. We follow Detective Feelings as they look for clues about how someone is feeling through their expression, body language and the situation. Are they smiling or frowning? What is happening around them? Has someone else been telling a joke or saying something a bit mean? 

We discover why empathy and sympathy are important, and how you can feel empathy for someone when you may not share the same experiences or problems as them, such as having to move to another country, or starting a new school.

Vibrant and amusing illustrations by award-winning illustrator Daniel Gray-Barnett bring the adventures of Detective Feelings to life.

The key ingredients to contented love—quintessential advice on relationships from The School of Life, with an approachable tone

It can sometimes seem a mystery why some couples stay together and thrive – while many more split up or drag on scratchily. While we might think happy love is left to chance, there are some identifiable secrets that underpin good relationships that we can learn and put into practice.

The first title of a new series, The Secrets of Successful Relationships draws upon the expertise of The School of Life therapists to teach us the key ingredients of contented love. Chapters such as “Learning to Love Oneself”, “Knowing What to Overlook”, “Good Listening” and “The Importance of Bad Dates” prompt us to think about how we can achieve success in love. In a tone that’s warm, encouraging and funny, we learn: how to communicate effectively, how to manage differences, what to do when sexual problems arise, how to air grievances, the best way to share a home and – when things grow truly problematic – how to judge whether or not we should stay or leave.

This handbook shows us how to take the necessary, careful, intelligent steps towards the contented love we deserve.

A journal to help us process our lives—from The School of Life’s line of beautiful, elegant journals

The Self-Reflection Journal is the first in a new range of guided journals from The School of Life, that uses a series of repeated questions to help us think about what we really want, what we are actually feeling and what might be holding us back from our goals. Each question has been careful chosen for its psychological insight and draws from the teachings of The School of Life, to guide us on a journey of self-discovery. 

The questions, such as 'What is still lovely?' direct our minds to areas that we tend to neglect. With 150 pages of questions, we can revisit these thoughts regularly and digest the concerns, emotions, and events that repeatedly trouble us. With time, we can lessen our anxieties, and begin to reach the calm, contended lives we deserve.

With its high quality cloth-bound cover, ribbon bookmark, and inspiring quotes from The School of Life throughout, this is a beautiful and thoughtful addition to any bookshelf.

The difference between a successful and a disappointing life often comes down to a critical ingredient that we overlook at our peril: confidence. 

This is a book with a practical purpose: to take us through exercises that help us rediscover the confidence we all already have inside us—the confidence that we have neglected out of habit, fear or meekness. It’s a faculty we are all endowed with and confidence can flourish with the right kind of practice and encouragement. 

This workbook contains over fifty exercises that flex our confident faculties and guide us to greater effectiveness in our relationships, in our working lives and in our approach to ourselves. This includes a Self-Esteem Audit to identify what we might have gone through in our early lives, asking  questions such as: Do you think you are essentially a good person? Were your parents essentially supportive or not? Do you hate or like being you? There are sections focusing on confidence in relationships, friendships, and at work.

This is a tool to unlock our latent powers – and help us become who we long, and deserve, to be. 

Pair with the Confidence Prompt Cards, designed to help you find confidence and battle against timidity.

A compassionate guide to raising resilient, authentic, well-rounded children.

The Good Enough Parent is a compendium of life lessons, including how to say 'No', how to look beneath the surface of "bad" behavior to find the root of what is going on, how to encourage a child to be genuinely kind, and how to handle the moodiness of adolescence. 

Rather than striving for perfection, the book argues, the job of any parent is in fact to guide a child gently into the imperfect nature of everything. 

Encouraging, wry, and steeped in years of experience, The Good Enough Parent is an intelligent guide to raising a child who will one day look back on their childhood with just the right mixture of gratitude, humor, and love.

• COMPASSIONATE ADVICE: for raising content toddlers into resourceful teens.
• FOR BUSY PARENTS: includes digestible, accessible lessons in parenting.
• ACTIONABLE TIPS: for balancing parental instinct with the acquisition of new skills.
• EMOTIONAL CURRICULUM: with lessons in curiosity, listening, manners, and adolescence.

A therapeutic and consoling workbook with exercises to soothe anxiety and create a state of calm.

Most of us long to be a little calmer: too many of our days are lost to agitation and worry, stress and discord. Yet we know that we are at our best when we can manage not to panic and take challenges in our stride.

Fortunately, a calm state of mind is not a divine gift. Even those of us starting from a more agitated position can systematically understand and lay claim to it. Too many books on this subject simply explain what it would be like to be calm. This is a workbook that takes us through the practical steps required to actually become calm. It is filled with exercises and prompts that deliver the self-understanding and self-compassion on which true serenity depends. Furthermore, the book invites us to build calming routines into our daily lives so that what we learn can stick with us and change us for the long term.

Based on years of The School of Life’s work in the area of anxiety and calm, this is a landmark workbook guaranteed to bring about the calmer state of mind we long for and deserve.

• EASY-TO-FOLLOW JOURNALING PROMPTS to explore our inner landscape and cultivate calm.
• DRAWING EXERCISES for everyone, no artistic ability required.
• A THERAPEUTIC WORKBOOK with plenty of space to track moods, set goals, and reflect.
• SOOTHING packaging and simple layout - a journal to keep close at hand.
• A TIMELY TOOLKIT to achieve calm in a frenzied, chaotic world.

A selection of unique and beautiful destinations around the world, which offer powerful new perspectives on life.

The world is full of places that inspire and bring us joy: they might be exceptionally beautiful, resonant with history, untouched by civilization or rich in memory.

This is an atlas that gathers together some of the most enchanting and reinvigorating places around the world in order to heal and captivate, including beautiful destinations in Greece, Italy, Japan, America, Chile and Australia, to name but a few. We’re taken to the tops of mountains, solitary cliffs, elegant cities and also some less expected locations: airports, hydroelectric stations and meteorite craters.

Great travelers have always known that travelling can broaden the mind; here we see how it can also heal it. A Therapeutic Atlas reminds us that the world is far broader and more inspiring than we tend to appreciate day to day. Tempting images are combined with short essays that discuss the power of particular places to help us with the difficulties of being human. We locate places that are therapeutic because they coax us out of familiar patterns of thought and liberate our minds.

This is a book that can be read when travelling, as a real-life atlas, but as importantly, when travel is difficult, it reminds us that there is no place like home and the sanctuary of our own bed.

• AN UPLIFTING GUIDE: to the therapeutic benefits of exploring the world.
• A CURATED COLLECTION OF ARTWORKS AND PHOTOGRAPHS: capturing unique destinations around the world, each accompanied by a short essay.
• FEATURED ARTISTS INCLUDE: John Singer Sargent, Richard Misrach, David Hockney, Vincent van Gogh, Albert Bierstadt and more.
• RECOMMENDED FOR READERS OF THE ART OF TRAVEL BY ALAIN DE BOTTON
• GLORIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED: designed to spark the imagination and to be both hopeful and uplifting.

A collection of simple - and surprisingly relevant - tools from great thinkers throughout history. 

Focusing on important ideas from Western and Eastern philosophy, sociology, psychotherapy, art, architecture, and literature, this collection of wisdom and insight includes everyone from well know thinkers like Sigmund Freud and Lao Tzu to more unexpected names like Coco Chanel and St Benedict. 

With original color illustrations for each featured thinker, this book presents a fascinating gallery of individuals from across the millennia who have shaped the intellectual project of The School of Life.

• A REFERENCE BOOK OF 60 GREAT THINKERS: and their most useful ideas.
• THE SCHOOL OF LIFE CANON: a gallery of individuals from across the millennia who have shaped the intellectual project of The School of Life.
• ORIGINAL COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS BY STUART PATIENCE
• THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE: for those seeking both answers and inspiration.
• PREMIUM GIFT FORMAT: shrink-wrapped with ribbon marker and belly band.

An exploration of the many reasons to remain hopeful in the face of life's disappointments and challenges.

In a world that isn’t short of darkness, there could be few more urgent priorities than to spend time rehearsing for ourselves why life – despite all its challenges – still has so much to offer us; why there are still so many reasons to be hopeful.

Here is a collection of some of the most persuasive arguments for staying on the side of optimism, creativity, kindness, calm and hope. Across a series of essays, we learn why we still have the right to feel purposeful and buoyant despite everything that is challenging: because there is still so much more to discover, because love can triumph sometimes, because we can delight in summer days and the light of dawn, because we are not alone in our suffering, because we are never far from the option of a slice of cake or a bath, because we are very small things in a mighty and beautiful universe and because we don’t require perfection for things to feel good enough.

In a tone that avoids the pitfalls of sentimentality and cynicism, the book urges us to reconnect with our more resilient selves, bidding us to recover faith in what is still possible. At points funny and always encouraging and kind, here is an ideal friend to guide us back to courage and delight.

• A TOOL TO ASSIST US IN OUR SEARCH FOR A REASON TO BE: the book is an eclectic collection of short essays on wide-ranging subjects, from an extraordinary encounter between Mick Jagger and an unfamiliar Jesuit priest to the escapism found in Iranian cinema.
• HOPEFULNESS FOR PESSIMISTS: an honest and accessible guide to navigate us through the darkness to light.
• ILLUSTRATED THROUGHOUT: with a vibrant mix of artworks, photography and illustration.
• A HIGHLY RELATABLE BOOK: that offers comfort and support in our darker moments, while guiding us towards an optimistic future.

Everyone experiences heartbreak at some point in their life. Advice can be heard to receive with a broken heart, and it tends to focus on letting time do the healing. This consoling and encouraging guide from The School of Life presents a refreshing perspective on heartbreak, arguing that a more nuanced understanding of our pain can help us along the path to healing. 

Through history, psychology, and a little philosophy, Heartbreak teaches us how our responses to abandonment are formed, what the best way to think about an ex might be, and how to envision future relationships when we are in the midst of despair. We come away feeling less alone, consoled that our suffering will have an end, and intrigued by the endless subtleties of relationships. 

• A PRACTICAL GUIDE: to understanding and overcoming heartbreak. 
• PART OF THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S 'LOVE' SERIES: focusing on the joys and sorrows of relationships. 
• A PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH: to life's innumerable heartbreaks. 

• EXPLORES THE LIFE-CHANGING POWER OF UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES
• A PRACTICAL TOOLKIT for self-discovery.
• INCLUDES THOUGHT-PROVOKING EXERCISES for self-analysis.
• THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S MOST POPULAR SUBJECT the associated YouTube video "Who Am I?" has 1.5 million views.

Art therapy for the soul. One of the most unexpectedly useful things we can do when we’re feeling glum or out of sorts is to look at pictures. The best works of art can lift our spirits, remind us of what we love and return perspective to our situation. A few moments in front of the right picture can rescue us. Art is one of the most unexpected and beautiful defenses we have against despair. 

Each of the uplifting images in this collection comes paired with a brief inspirational essay. The images range widely across time and space: from ancient to modern art, east to west, and north to south. They include photography, paintings, abstract and figurative art. Each image has been carefully chosen with a particular problem in mind: a broken heart, career challenges, relationship troubles, and more.

This is a portable museum dedicated to beauty and consolation, a unique book about art which is also about psychology and healing: a true piece of art therapy.

• A CURATED COLLECTION OF ARTWORKS from artists around the world, each accompanied by an essay.
• ARTISTS INCLUDE Edgar Degas, Cy Twombly, Gustave Caillebotte, Louise Bourgeois, Hiroshi Yoshida, Johannes Vermeer, Georgia O’Keeffe and more.
• ART AS THERAPY FOR THE SOUL this book highlights the therapeutic benefit of art. Artworks featured from galleries including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery, London and Tate Museum, London.

Navigating the onslaught of media is overwhelming, to say the least. We are so used to living in a media-saturated world that we are numb to the onslaught of news, images, and posts that batter us daily. As we scroll on our devices, many of us are anxious, sleep deprived, disheartened, and afraid. 

In this reassuring  guide we learn to understand and combat what media does to our minds. It looks at the many peculiarities of modern media: its obsession with scandal, its emphasis on novelty, its capacity to fuel envy and self-hatred, its ever shorter attention span, its obsession with fame, and its proliferation across platforms and mediums.

The goal of the book is to free readers from the media’s tentacles in order to reach a calmer, more generous, and imaginative state of mind. Modern media is, too often, an illness; this is a cure.

• MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH: considers the link between media and mental illness and looks at how we can reduce our media intake to relieve anxiety and stress. 
• CRITICAL EYE: helps us to think more critically about the media and the messages we are receiving through the news and online.
• “USEFUL PESSIMISM”: and other chapters, including “This is not the whole world,” “Think like a tragedian”, and “Know who you are.”

"The School of Life: On Self-Hatred may be the most essential of The School of Life’s essential philosophy handbooks: it reminds us, yet again, that we are not alone, that much more connects us than divides us and that self-acceptance is one of the most important keys to peace of mind." - Emma Thompson, DBE British actress and screenwriter

A guide to emotional healing and living a more self-accepting life.

Behind many of our problems lies an often ignored factor: we don’t like ourselves very much. We are sufferers of self-hatred. We tell ourselves the meanest things. It’s because of self-hatred that we tend to neglect our potential at work and get entangled in unfulfilling relationships, that we lack confidence in our social lives and suffer from anxiety, despair and imposter syndrome.

This is a book that, with immense compassion and fellow feeling, investigates the phenomenon of self-hatred while giving pragmatic advice on how to overcome it. It asks where the feeling comes from, what it makes us do and how we might become kinder and more compassionate towards ourselves.

We have probably spent far too much of our lives disliking ourselves and attacking everything we say, do or feel, while not even realizing what we’re up to. It’s time to overcome our masochism and move towards a more self-forgiving and accepting stance. The School of Life: On Self Hatred is a guide to the more compassionate and gentle relationship we should have had with ourselves from the start, and can all achieve now.

• IDENTIFIES THE ORIGINS AND CONSEQUENCES OF SELF-HATRED: and provides advice for living a more self-accepting life.
• ENCOURAGES US TO DEVELOP ASSERTIVENESS AGAINST SELF-LOATHING: and gives us the tools to challenge our inner critic and deal with imposter syndrome.
• ACCESSIBLE AND PRAGMATIC: with a compassionate and realistic tone, outlining the importance of self-care.
• PART OF THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S SERIES OF GIFTABLE ESSAYS: other titles include: Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person, On Confidence, How to Find Love and Self-Knowledge.

A hopeful guide to living well in the 21st century.

The modern world has brought us a range of extraordinary benefits and joys, including technology, medicine, and transportation. But with these advances, it seems, we've also seen an increase in greed, despair, and agitation. 

How to Survive the Modern World is the ultimate guide to navigating our unusual times. The book tackles our relationship to the news, our identities, our careers, our relationship to the natural world, our admiration for science and technology, our belief in individualism and secularism - and our suspicion of quiet and solitude. 

This book helps us form a calmer, more authentic, more resilient, and more light-hearted relationship to the complexities of our age. If modern times can feel like a disease, this book is both the diagnosis and the soothing, hope-filled cure.

• IDENTIFIES THE SOURCE OF SHARED ANXIETY helps us identify the sources of our sorrows in the modern world.
• PRACTICAL ADVICE on dealing with the challenges presented by capitalism, advertising and the media.
• CHAPTERS INCLUDE Media, Materialism, Family, Love, Work, Sex, Science & Religion, Democracy and Nature.
• BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED premium gift format.

From the team that created Big Ideas For Curious Minds, an introduction to the history of science and its impact on the world today

Big Ideas from Science introduces children to some of the most influential scientists throughout history, and the amazing scientific breakthroughs that have changed the way we live – from the discovery of bronze to the invention of the microscope. With engaging facts and playful illustrations, children are encouraged to follow their innate curiosity, to look at the world in different ways and to try and make sense of it. 

The book shows us how science not only helps us invent incredible new technology, understand the structure of atoms or reach the moon, but can also help us with some of the most important questions in our lives: how can I become a wiser person, a better friend and a kinder, more compassionate human?

50 heartfelt photographs and interviews, reflecting on the universal experience of loneliness.

It’s easy to feel that we are alone in feeling alone. Not only do we suffer, but we also destroy our self-confidence with repeated convictions that we are the only ones who are so confused and at sea, the only ones without a partner and who will be alone (again) on Saturday night.

Through fifty touching interviews and captivating portraits by the talented photographer Julia Hawkins, this transformative book uncovers the ways that loneliness touches so many of us. We hear from a diverse array of individuals whose lives have been shaped by isolation – those who feel invisible, misunderstood and alienated, as well as those who have found unexpected paths to understanding and connection.

We come to understand that we are not unique in our solitude, and that being alone is a natural part of the human experience - and so we have every reason to hold out a hand to our similarly complicated, kind and lonely neighbours. 

A book of psychological tests, questions, and exercises, and how they can help you get to know yourself better

We spend our lives inside ourselves and yet understanding our inner world remains one of our most complex challenges. This enlightening and practical book offers a collection of transformative psychological tests designed to illuminate the hidden dimensions of our psyches.

Through a curated selection of 50 psychological exercises, you’ll embark on an intimate journey of self-discovery. These tests invite you to look beneath the surface of your conscious thoughts, uncovering the subtle narratives that shape your emotions, relationships and sense of self.

Each test is an invitation to explore your unspoken fears, your deepest desires and the unconscious patterns that drive your behaviours, providing unprecedented insight into your inner workings.

The second book in The School of Life's 'Secrets' series, offering lessons on the emotional skills necessary to build and maintain friendships 

Through The School of Life's unique approach to psychology, philosophy and cultural history, The Secrets of Successful Friendships offers a thoughtful exploration of why friendship is both more complex and more rewarding than we typically imagine, and offers strategic for creating strong bonds with others. It examines why we get lonely, what holds us back from deeper connections, and how we might develop the emotional intelligence needed for lasting bonds. 

With characteristic wisdom and warmth, the book explores different varieties of friendship, from casual acquaintances to profound lifelong connections, while offering practical insights into overcoming common obstacles like shyness, envy and fear of vulnerability. 

By explaining friendship's true purpose, the book gives us a chance to build new relationships of genuine depth and meaning.

A guide to understanding our own trauma and finding ways to recover from it

All of us have – to a greater or lesser extent – suffered from traumas in our lives. The less we address these traumas, the more they have a habit of manifesting as difficulties in the form of broken relationships, anxieties, depression, or even physical symptoms like insomnia and digestive issues.

'From Trauma to Healing' is a practical guide to breaking free of these traumas and finding hope for the future. In four chapters, Causes of Trauma, Symptoms of Trauma, Relocating Trauma, and Processing Trauma, we learn what trauma is, how it can affect us for decades, and how we can liberate ourselves from it in a healthy way. Exercises and question prompts throughout the book, such as word association tests and 'interviewing' the body, demonstrate strategies to recognise trauma and work through them towards healing. 

Deeply practical and packed with ideas, this is a humane and wise guide to recovering from the past, and creating the happier future we deserve.

The second in a line of journals from The School of Life– a tool for checking in

This beautifully produced and high quality journal invites us to regularly check in on ourselves – what we want, where we want to change, where we need to go – in order to maximize our chances of leading a fulfilled and contented life.

With well-focused questions repeated throughout, interspersed with quotes on growth from The School of Life, this journal prompts us to clarify our goals, assess our options and plot a route to a flourishing future. By regularly answering the repeated questions, such as 'In five years, I would be pleased if...' , we can clearly track our achievements and assess where we still have room to grow.

This is a tool for a newfound feeling of lightness, creativity and purpose.

A small “museum”—in book form— of calm 

A psychological guidebook that can help to quieten our worries and bring on a new mood of serenity and ease. 

Knowing how to be calm is one of life’s greatest skills. It doesn’t matter how well our own life is going; if our mind is frantic, happiness will always be just out of reach. 

The third title in the '40 Images' series, Calm in 40 Images is a comprehensive guide to the art of calm. Featuring the work of photographers and artists including Hiroshi Sugimoto, Gustav Klimt, Gwen John, Johannes Vermeer and Edward Hopper, alongside essays to invite contemplation, it takes us systematically through the many things that unsettle us and arrives at a range of solutions to ease our spirits. Gustav Klimt’s Pear Tree (1903) reminds us that we do not need a life of fame or melodramatic relationships, we should instead make our peace with so-called ordinariness. Mark Salamon’s photograph, The Rays (2020), accompanies a guided anxiety-reducing exercise that we can partake in when the noise of the day has subsided. 

We are invited not just to understand calm, but to appreciate it with our eyes and, more crucially, discover it with all of our senses. 

Companion book to Confidence in 40 Images and Self-Knowledge in 40 Images. Pair with the Stoicism Cards for insights into building resilience and calm.

Following on from the bestselling How To Overcome Your Childhood, Getting Over Your Parents is a practical guide on how to navigate the complex legacies left to us by our parents, and how to parent ourselves. By exploring different types of parents, such as “The Preoccupied Parent”, “The Overprotective Parent”’ and “The Controlling Parent”, it offers a vocabulary to understand some of the stranger and more difficult things that parents sometimes do to their children, as well as giving advice on how to move forward from our puzzles or confusions. The emphasis is never on blame, always on understanding. 

Offering constructive solutions for dealing with the symptoms of a difficult childhood, this book helps us to explore the past so that we can avoid the mistakes our parents made, and secure for ourselves the more creative, calm and loving future we deserve.

A 15th anniversary collection of The School of Life’s most popular and essential essays on self-knowledge, relationships, work and culture.

The School of Life is an organization with a mission at its heart: to help foster calm, self-understanding and greater emotional maturity. 

For the last 15 years, we have produced landmark essays on important life topics, now gathered together for the first time.

Among the essays collected here, conveniently, in one volume:

• On Confidence: a guide to throwing off inhibition in the name of a more free and creative life
• Self-Knowledge: a method for knowing ourselves better in order to make optimal choices in love and work
• Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person: a hopeful and wry survey of the trials and joys of marriage

This beautiful edition of The School of Life’s best advice is a perfect companion to carry around or keep on a bedside table— a concise compendium of some of the wisest things we’ll ever need to know.

What our readers have been saying about the individual essays

On Confidence

"Brief but insightful! Will be back for more School of Life reads. Works really well on Audible"

"Brilliant! Thought provoking. Kept concise enough to really focus on the subject and give you time to think about the subject in terms of yourself."

Self-Knowledge

"It's such a simple and small book but with a powerful message! I really needed it and I'm grateful I got to read this book and work on the exercises. The exercises are definitely a plus and they're very well thought-through!"

Just perfect. Must-read for everyone who considers at least dating, not to mention serious commitment. Beautifully exposed all the myths and concepts of love, sex and relationships. While this is very entertaining and funny, the topics are very serious and make me think and change my attitude... a lot."

Why You Will Marry The Wrong Person

"Excellent little book for perspective on a considerably important subject. If you plan on marrying, take a day and read this magnificent little title."

Essays from this series available as audiobooks:

Self-Knowledge

On Confidence

An engaging, inclusive history of the world for children, where feelings, curiosity, and facts blend together 

Big Ideas from History is the story of what has happened through time - in a voice that speaks directly to a child's growing mind, helping them make vast connections between time and place, and their own place within history. 

What might the dinosaurs or the ancient Egyptians, the Aztec warriors or the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century tell us that could be interesting and useful to hear now? This book is a big history of the world, from the beginnings of the universe to now, which places the reader at its center. It encourages children to think about how they experience the world and offers a helpful perspective by placing their thoughts and feelings in the context of our history and evolution. 

Big Ideas From History asks the reader to imagine a world they would like to live in. What might they learn from self-knowledge? How can they grow, develop and create their own place in history? Charming, thoughtful, and written with warmth and intelligence, this is the perfect gift for the curious child.

• BIG IDEAS FROM HISTORY: Spanning the ages in an easy-to-follow way, this latest edition to the "Big Ideas" series covers Prehistory, Ancient History, The Middle Ages, Industrialization, The Modern World and The Future. 
• KIDS WILL LOVE ENGAGING WITH THIS BOOK: As one example, readers young and old alike can ponder items like "What the ideal school would be like" or "How to teach people to be great at telling jokes" in the section titled "Big Questions We Don't Know the Answer For (Yet)". 
• WRITTEN FOR KIDS: Makes history fascinating and relevant to children and renders complicated material accessible to a younger audience without condescension. 
• CONVERSATION WILL FLOW BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEIR GROWN-UPS: An engaging way to open up conversations between adults and children about thoughts and feelings. 
• BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANNA DOHERTY: We see two characters traversing the history of the world, bringing it vibrantly to life. 
• FOLLOW UP TO THE BEST-SELLING BIG IDEAS FOR CURIOUS MINDS

• THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S GUIDE TO NAVIGATING ANXIETY
• TRAUMA, RELATIONSHIPS, OVERTHINKING, SELF-LOATHING: this book explore 19 varieties of anxiety, and the tone is like a pep talk from a trusted friend.
• INCLUDES PRACTICAL SELF-REFLECTION EXERCISES: designed to help calm and unburden the mind.
• ILLUSTRATED WITH FULL COLOR IMAGES THROUGHOUT

Eureka Honors Award Winner

“This is a book for sharing. The grown-up who reads this book with you is saying that they really do want to listen and understand. They’re saying that it’s good to take time to talk about a feeling even if it seems very complicated…”

In the first of a series of children's books aimed at better understanding and articulating emotions, comes What Are Your Feeling? 

Taking a deep dive into 20 different feelings from sensitive to proud, quiet to mischievous, this book helps the child identify their emotions in ways that are healthy and easy to understand. 

With vivid  illustrations that bring each feeling to life by the award-winning Daniel Gray Barnett, this book is a wonderful tool for self awareness, social-emotional learning, and sharing how we feel.

• AN ESSENTIAL CHILDREN'S GUIDEBOOK TO EMOTIONAL WELLBEING
• CHAPTERS INCLUDE BULLYING, ANXIETY, AND FEELING MISUNDERSTOOD
• ILLUSTRATIONS BY LIZZY STEWART: the award-winning illustrator of There's a Tiger in the Garden.
• THOUGHT PROVOKING PROMPTS: to encourage conversation between adults and kids about emotional wellbeing.
• ACCESSIBLE PRESENTATION OF COMPLEX TOPICS
• IDEAL FOR AGES 9 AND UP

A collection of the essential emotional lessons we need in order to thrive.

We probably went to school for what felt like a very long time. We probably took care with our homework. Along the way we surely learnt intriguing things about equations, the erosion of glaciers, the history of the Founding Fathers, and the tenses of foreign languages.

But why, despite all the lessons we sat through, were we never taught the really important things that dominate and trouble our lives: who to start a relationship with, how to trust people, how to understand one’s psyche, how to move on from sorrow or betrayal, and how to cope with anxiety and shame?

The School of Life is an organization dedicated to teaching a range of emotional lessons that we need in order to lead fulfilled and happy lives – and that schools routinely forget to teach us. This book is a collection of our most essential lessons, delivered with directness and humanity, covering topics from love to career, childhood trauma to loneliness. 

To read this book is to be invited to lead kinder, richer, and more authentic lives – and to complete an education we began but still badly need to finish. This is homework to help us make the most of the rest of our lives.

• EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE essential skills and lessons to help you thrive at work, at home, and in relationships.
• GIFT beautifully packaged in premium gift format.
• A HELPFUL GUIDE to what really matters, written with directness and humanity.
• A PRIMER ON LIVING WELL philosophical concepts simplified and applied to modern life.

A book to offer clarity and guidance when facing the difficult decision of whether your relationship has a future.

Whether we should stay in or leave a relationship is one of the most consequential and painful decisions we are ever likely to confront.

What makes the issue so hard is that there are no fixed rules for judgement. How can we tell whether a relationship is 'good enough' or plain wrong? How do we draw the line between justified longing and naivety? Does someone 'better' actually exist? Should the feelings of children be counted (and what might they be in the long term)? Could one's partner change, perhaps with therapy, or should one assume that who they are now is who they will always be?

All these questions typically haunt our minds as we weigh up whether to stay or go. With no axe to grind or ideology to promote, Stay or Leave walks us gently through our options, opening our minds to perspectives we might not have considered.

This book aims to take the reader towards a time, presently hard to imagine, when the choice will no longer feel so agonizing. Using its lessons, we can understand ourselves deeply, consider our options, minimize our regrets and find the way ahead.

• REFRESHINGLY PRAGMATIC relationship advice for couples of all kinds.
• ROMANTIC REALISM a common sense way to look at your relationship.
• RELATIONSHIP TOOLKIT for working through your fears and anxieties.
• THERAPIST-RESEARCHED draws from The School of Life’s Therapy department and their experience providing couples therapy.

An essential guide to encourage children to explore, enjoy and benefit from the natural world around them.

** "This thought-provoking book should provide many opportunities to discuss and learn from the natural world. Highly recommend for classrooms and libraries." – School Library Journal Starred Reviews **

Children are used to hearing about how important it is to protect nature, but they may not fully understand how the natural world can positively impact their emotional wellbeing. With that in mind, this book looks to enhance this time spent outside and show children how nature can be fun, uplifting, consoling, and even offer companionship.

This is a book about how nature can touch us all and help us with our lives (especially when we might be feeling bored, sad, or lonely). Children learn about the ways in which they can be comforted, inspired, and uplifted by examples of nature such as:

– a flowing river
– a cow in a field
– clouds in the sky
– rabbits in their burrows
– stars at night
– or a cuddle with a favorite puppy.

This is an inspirational book, not just educating children about the natural world, but teaching them to love and connect with it. Beautiful illustrations and a tone that is encouraging, warm and accessible makes it easy for children, and their favorite adults, to relate to.

• ILLUSTRATIONS BY TYLA MASON bring animals and plants to life to get children excited about connecting with nature.
• EDUCATIONAL AND FUN encourages children to discover what’s amazing and interesting about nature.
• EXPANDS EMOTIONAL LITERACY by helping kids explore how their environment makes them feel.
• AGES 8 AND UP with fun facts and engaging activities.

How to find compassion, hope and perspective in the arts. 

Many people search for the meaning of life through music, film, literature and the visual arts. But how can we synthesize the emotions we feel through art? 

This book looks at how works of culture were made - that is, to improve the way we live. Connecting a range of (Western) cultural masterpieces with our own pains and dilemmas, we learn to better see culture as a resource, a way to address the agonies of being human. 

It provides us with enduring keys to unlocking culture as a way of transforming our lives. 

Using common themes - such as companionship, hope balance, compassion, knowledge, encouragement, appreciation, and perspective - and combining them with works from Bach to Renoir, The Beatles to Mel Gibson's Braveheart, Hamlet, Anselm Kiefer, and writers like Proust and Virginia Woolf, this book provides the key to unlocking culture. Indeed, the keys to transforming our lives.

• HOW MUSIC, FILM, LITERATURE AND VISUAL ART operate in our society and lives. 
• EXPLORES CULTURAL MASTERPIECES and how they relate to our everyday lives. 
• ILLUSTRATED with full color images throughout. 
• THOUGHT-PROVOKING CONCEPTS that enhance any future visit to a gallery, theater or cinema. 
• BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED premium gift format.

This is an unusual sort of history book: a history of ideas – and not just any old ideas, ideas from across time and space that are best suited to healing, enchanting and reviving us.

Along the way, we travel around the world, from the very beginnings of our species right up to the modern age. We hear about the Ancient Greeks and Romans, we learn about Buddhism and Islam, we acquire ideas from Hinduism and the European Renaissance, the Enlightenment and Modernity. Deliberately eclectic, the book gives us a panoramic, 3,000-year view over the finest insights of a diversity of civilisations. 

Every idea hangs off an image – it could be a place, a document, a building or a work of art – that has something very specific to teach us. There are ideas here that will stick in our minds because they can help to answer the biggest puzzles we may have: about the direction of our lives, the issues of relationships, the meaning of existence. 

The book amounts to a feast for the intellect and the imagination – to make us into the best sorts of historians, those who know how to use the past to shed light on their own lives.

Twenty case studies explaining how to gently deliver a range of life’s most awkward messages while causing minimal harm.

Life constantly requires us to give other people some hugely awkward messages: that we don’t love them anymore; that we do love them (though we’re not meant to); that they smell a bit; that they’re fired; that we’re furious with them (though we adore them) or that their music is too loud...

Often, out of embarrassment, we just stay quiet. Occasionally we explode. And typically, we stumble about, looking for the right words – dreading that we didn’t find them and thereby causing more hurt than we should.

This is a book to help us locate the best possible words to get across a range of life’s most difficult messages. With twenty case studies drawn from relationships, friendships, work, our families, and social situations, we are gently shown what we might – in an ideal world – find ourselves saying to make our intentions known while causing minimal harm. We are guided, among other topics, to how best to end a relationship, how to make it up with a child, and how gently to let down a friend who wants more.

We laugh, we recognize our troubles – and we’re introduced to a range of deeply empathetic ways to navigate some of our most acute social dilemmas.

• GIFT: beautifully packaged in premium gift format.
• A PRACTICAL GUIDE: helpful advice on navigating a range of awkward social situations, from the everyday to the unforeseen.
• PLAYFUL ILLUSTRATIONS: a fun, entertaining read.
• ENGAGING: case studies help demonstrate effective communication in family, work, and relationships.
• SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: crucial tools for navigating social situations with ease.

"These entries imaginatively connect confidence to everything from capitalism to leaving a party early, make for a thought-provoking and wide-ranging exploration. Those seeking an extra shot of self-esteem will be rewarded" - Publishers Weekly

A curated selection of 40 photographs and artworks with accompanying essays examining confidence as a skill

James Baldwin on a bridge in Paris, happy in the freedom of his self-determined exile…

The Bloomsbury Group, well-mannered disruptors…

Barack Obama, captured at ease in the Oval Office…

Everyday life, unique architecture, people in movement going against the grain: in forty iconic images, On Confidence illustrates moments of happiness and ease. 

This first in a new giftable series—with photographs and short, inspiring essays, and featuring artists and photographers like Vincent van Gogh, Mary Cassat, Pablo Picasso, Adrienne Salinger, and Sian Davey — On Confidence shows us that confidence is a skill that can be learned, and used for success.

• THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED FOLLOW UP to to Big Ideas for Curious Minds.
• A THOUGHTFUL AND PRACTICAL GUIDE to the world of careers, aspirations, and jobs.
• TALKS TO CHILDREN ABOUT MONEY in an an approachable, pragmatic way.
• BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATIONS by Tyla Mason throughout.
• INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES for children 8 and up.

• A PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH to a more meaningful life.
• PRACTICAL TIPS ON NAVIGATING ANGER, INTIMACY, AND EXCEPTIONALISM
• A GUIDE TO FINDING EXCITEMENT at work, in relationships, and within.

The idea that work might be fulfilling rather than just necessary is a recent invention. These days, in prosperous areas of the world, we don't only expect to get paid, we also expect to find meaning and satisfaction. It's a big ask and explains why so many people have an identity crisis in their work lives.

A Job To Love is designed to help us better understand ourselves in order to find a job that is right for us. It explores the myths, traps and confusions that get in our way, and shows us how to develop new, effective attitudes and habits. 

With compassion and practicality, this book guides us to discover our true talents and to make sense of our confusion, desires, and aspirations - before it is too late.

• FIND A CAREER YOU LOVE a guide to finding fulfilling work through self-exploration. 
• PRACTICAL EXAMPLES AND EXERCISES to inspire fresh thinking about our jobs and ourselves. 
• BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED gift format with ribbon marker.

A guide to the art of failing well—with actionable tips and a gentle approach

This is a hopeful, consoling, gentle book about failure. Our societies talk a lot about success, but the reality is that no one gets through life without failing – in small and usually also in large ways. Sometimes our failures are very obvious, at other times, we feel we have to conceal them out of shame. This book encourages us to accept the role that failure plays for all of us and to feel compassion for ourselves for the messes we can’t help but make as we go through our lives.

Full of actionable tips on how to approach life's inevitable failures from small to large, this is the perfect volume for anyone who has ever gone through a breakup, suffered a career crisis, made enemies, fumbled a project, or wasted their time. (In other words: everyone.)

There is nothing more human than failing—and nothing wiser and more necessary failing well.

• PRAGMATIC ADVICE ON how to be resilient and endure regret, so we can recover and move on from despair and catastrophe.
• WE ARE NOT ALONE explores various examples of real-world failure and reminds us that we are not alone in making mistakes.
• EMPATHETIC AND REAL written from the perspective of those who have failed and survived their failure.
• CHAPTERS INCLUDE How to Deal with the Meanness of the World, What Love Really Is and Why It Matters, Finding Perspective, Fear and Self-Hatred, and Self-Compassion.

"A moving look at the ties that bind."— Publisher's Weekly

An intimate look at the complexities of family life told through evocative photography and authentic interviews.

Families are a mystery. Is everyone’s as complicated as ours? Is there such a thing as a "normal" one? We generally only get to see the polished exteriors and are left to imagine what might be going on behind closed doors. Here is a book that takes us on a tour around the reality of families. It provides a rare, privileged glimpse into private realms, allowing us a new, profound understanding of ourselves and others. 

Comprised of 60 interviews and portraits captured by five supremely talented photographers – Mark Hobbs, Kate Peters, Marjolaine Ryley, Michelle Sank and Naomi Williams – the book introduces us to an extraordinary array of participants: new parents, stepchildren, siblings, the wealthy and the marginalized, the old and the young.

In this book, photographs intertwine with the the subject's story, reminding us of Humans of New York - a photographic project by Brandon Stanton which portraits daily glimpses into the lives of strangers on the streets of New York City.

What surfaces is the astounding diversity of family life – and the number of commonalities too. Above all, we recognize the fundamental role that family plays in making us who we are.This is a book for anyone who has ever wondered about their family or fantasized about being part of someone else’s – in short, this is a book for us all.

Drawing on in-depth analysis, How to Find Love explains our instinct for romantic self-sabotage and provides a crucial set of ideas to help us make safer, more imaginative and more effective choices in love.

• A GUIDE TO MAKING BETTER DECISIONS IN LOVE: and how to choose the "right" partner.
• PRESENTS THE TOOLS WE NEED: to break unhealthy relationship habits.
• PART OF THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S GIFTABLE ESSAYS SERIES: other titles include Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person, Why We Hate Cheap Things, and Self-Knowledge.
• DRAWS FROM THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S CORE CURRICULUM

Confidence is a skill that anyone can learn.

Despite the confidence we build over time in our field of work, we tend to overlook the primordial need for a more free ranging variety of confidence - one that can serve us in the course of our everyday lives: speaking to strangers at parties, asking someone to marry us, asking someone on the train to turn down their music, changing the world. 

This is a guidebook to confidence, why we lack it, and how we can gain more if it in our lives. On Confidence walks us gently through key issues that hold us back, and gives us the tools we need to fulfil our potential. 

• LEARN THE SKILL OF CONFIDENCE and how to apply it to everyday life.
• AN IN-DEPTH EXPLORATION of confidence and how we can achieve it.
• A PRACTICAL AND INSPIRATIONAL GUIDE to overcoming imposter syndrome, self sabotage, and much more.
• PART OF THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S ESSAY BOOK SERIES including: Self Knowledge, The Sorrows of Work, The Sorrows of Love, How To Find Love, How To Reform Capitalism, What Is Culture For?, What Is Psychotherapy?, Why We Hate Cheap Things, Why You Will Marry The Wrong Person.

• AN OUTLINE FOR A NEW KIND OF WEDDING CEREMONY: based on psychological theory rather than religious traditions.
• INCLUDES PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION: for marriage preparation, as well as advice for married life.
• INNER POCKET CONTAINING ORDER OF SERVICE BOOKLET: (including suggested vows and readings) and emotional prenuptial contract.
• GENDER NEUTRAL: and non-heteronormative.
• BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED: high end gift format. Royal-blue cover and page trim, gold foil embossed title, blue endpapers and gold ribbon.
• ILLUSTRATED: with full color images.

Anyone we might marry could be wrong for us - even just a little bit. We know that perfection is not in the cards. And yet, errors of deep-seated incompatibility in married couples seem to occur regularly. 

This informative (and funny) book examines the reasons why - and then suggests a new approach to marriage. The time has come to bury the Romantic intuition-based view of marriage and learn to practice and rehearse marriage as one would ice-skating or violin playing, activities no more deserving of systematic periods of institution.

• BASED ON THE NEW YORK TIMES MOST-READ ARTICLE OF 2016
• A THOUGHT-PROVOKING ESSAY COLLECTION about relationships and marriage. 
• A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE TO MARRIAGE offering insight, practical advice, and consolation. 

• A DARKLY COMIC BEDTIME STORY FOR ADULTS the perfect gift for parents at any stage.
• FULLY ILLUSTRATED SPREADS by Ben Javens.
• A WITTY ALTERNATIVE to the happy endings of children's books.
• REFRESHINGLY HONEST helps readers navigate the trials of adulthood with humor.

• A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: within romantic relationships.
• THE 20 MOST COMMON ARGUMENTS: and how to use them as a catalyst for growth.
• PART OF THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S LOVE SERIES: focusing on the joys and sorrows of relationships.

A collection of enlightening quotes, delivering some of the most important lessons The School of Life has to offer.

This is a selection of the very best and most psychologically acute quotations from The School of Life, covering such large and diverse topics as relationships, regret, anxiety, work, friends, family, travel and, not least, the meaning of life. Some of these quotations elicit an immediate nod of recognition, others leave us thoughtful and a few are just plain funny.

The book is organized by The School of Life’s key themes – Relationships, Self-Knowledge, Sociability, Work, Calm and Leisure – that together amount to a tour around the most profound sorrows and joys of the human mind and heart. Offering comfort and consolation in a compact format with quirky illustrations by Avi Ofer, The School of Life: Quotes to Live By is ideally suited to our impatient, anxious and searching times.

• QUOTES ARE FOCUSED AROUND THE KEY MESSAGES FROM THE SCHOOL OF LIFE: on a range of themes, including - Relationships, Self Knowledge, Sociability, Work, Calm and Leisure.
• QUIRKY AND FUN ILLUSTRATIONS: throughout by Avi Ofer.
• A BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED AND CAREFULLY CURATED OBJECT: that makes for an ideal gift for others or yourself.

Without prompting children often ask some of the largest questions about time, mortality, happiness and the meaning of life. Yet all too often their inborn curiosity is not developed and, with age, the questions fall away. This book addresses some of their more complex questions by introducing accessible philosophical concepts from 25 famous thinkers, contextualized in relatable everyday scenarios. Presented in an interactive question and answer format this book takes us to meet leading figures of philosophy from around the world and from all eras—and shows us how their ideas continue to matter.

With discussions about some of the most vibrant and essential philosophical ideas of history, this accessible book functions as an ideal introduction to the subject as well as a charming way to open up conversations between children and adults about the biggest questions we all face.

• FEATURED AS ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S BEST KIDS' BOOKS OF 2018
• 26 WISE AND VARIED IDEAS: to inspire curiosity in young minds.
• INCLUDES THOUGHTFUL ACTIVITIES: to prompt conversations between adults and children.
• A CHILDREN'S INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: inspired by great thinkers such as Simone de Beauvoir, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Plato.
• RELEVANT AND ENGAGING FOR KIDS 9 AND UP: chapters include: Maybe You're Just Tired, Learn To Say What's On Your Mind and Why You Might Feel Lonely.
• FULL COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANNA DOHERTY THROUGHOUT

Drawing as a therapeutic practice - for any level - including 80 guided drawing exercises as an aid to self-understanding and fulfillment.

When we’re young, all of us draw.

Drawing as Therapy is a collection of playful, creative prompts and exercises that introduce us to the curative powers of drawing. Divided into eight chapters, they invite us to reflect on different aspects of our life and psyche – our personality, moods, memories and passions – by attempting to render them through art. Through art, you can discover hidden byways of our minds, find new perspectives on our difficulties, summon a state of calm, and begin a process of self-recovery and healing.

The exercises won’t teach you how to draw. Instead, they will teach you an entirely new way of thinking about drawing, where there is no such thing as failure or success, only self-discovery and, in the best sense, play.

• INSPIRATIONAL this inspirational guide prompts us to express ourselves creatively and use artistic expression as a form of emotional release.
• NO ONE IS WATCHING the point is not to draw well, but to draw with authenticity, no matter your level of artistic ability.
• 80 DRAWING EXERCISES surprising, innovative, like SARK but with a British soul...
• 8 UNIQUE THEMES Self, Mood, Memory, Play, Love, Calm, Perspective & Re-enchantment.
• DRAWING AS THERAPY draws from psychological theories by Adrian Hill, Edward Adamson and Donald Winnicott.
• GIFT beautifully produced, premium gift format.
• SOLVE PROBLEMS AS YOU DRAW with research-backed therapeutic prompts.

• A HELPFUL COMPANION FOR THE RESTLESS INSOMNIAC
• A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ALL THE THINGS THAT KEEPS US UP AT NIGHT and what we can do to loosen their power.
• INCLUDES RELAXING EXERCISES TO UNBURDEN THE MIND and make way for sleep.
• NO TWO PAGES ARE THE SAME innovative design reflects the ceaseless workings of the nocturnal brain.
• FULL COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT

Emotions are like animals:

No two are quite the same.

Some are quiet; some are fierce;

And all are hard to tame.

Children experience all sorts of emotions: sometimes going through several very different ones before breakfast. Yet they can struggle to put these feelings into words. An inability to understand and communicate their moods can lead to bad behavior, deep frustration, and a whole host of difficulties further down the line. Like adults, they need help to recognize and verbalize their inner state. The greater their emotional vocabulary, the more likely they are to grow into happy, healthy, and fulfilled adults.

An Emotional Menagerie is an emotional glossary for children. A book of 26 rhyming poems, arranged alphabetically, that bring our feelings to life—Anger, Boredom, Curiosity, Dreaminess, Embarrassment, Fear, Guilt, and more. The poems transform each emotion into a different animal to provide a clear and engaging illustration of its character: how it arises; how it makes us behave and how we can learn to manage its effects. Boasting a rich vocabulary, the poems also give children a wide variety of options for describing their feelings to others.

Filled with wise, therapeutic advice, brought to life through musical language and beautiful illustrations, An Emotional Menagerie is an imaginative and universally appealing way of increasing emotional literacy.

• AN EMOTIONAL GLOSSARY FOR CHILDREN: with 26 rhyming poems, arranged alphabetically.

• ILLUSTRATED BY RACHAEL SAUNDERS: whimsical and humorous full color illustrations throughout.

• TEACHES CHILDREN EMOTIONAL LITERACY: through imaginative poems connecting different animals to common emotions.

• IMPROVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS: by helping children articulate their feelings.

• FOR AGES 5 AND UP

Psychotherapy is one of the most valuable inventions of the last hundred years, with an exceptional power to raise our levels of emotional well-being, enhance our relationships, heal the wounds of the past, and help us mine our professional potential. But it is also profoundly misunderstood science.

Working with a therapist can make us less angry, improve our confidence, and, perhaps most importantly, make us more loving towards ourselves and others.

Through engaging historical analysis and relevant case studies, this book explains psychotherapy in depth: why we need it, how treatment works, and what the outcome of a therapeutic intervention looks like. The book argues that psychotherapy is the single greatest step any of us can take towards self-understanding and fulfillment.

This book attempts to explain psychotherapy: why it is needed by us all, how those needs are addressed by treatment and what the outcome of a therapeutic intervention could be. The book reflects a fundamental belief of The School of Life that psychotherapy is the single greatest step any of us can take towards self-understanding and fulfillment. A course of therapy stands to render us ever so slightly less angry, self-defeating, unconfident, lost and sad.

• PSYCHOTHERAPY EXPLAINED a demystifying guide to the purpose and meaning of psychotherapy.

• UNLOCK THE POWER OF THERAPY to improve self love, communication, trust, and honesty.

• EXPLORES POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC OUTCOMES using case studies as examples.

• DEBUNKS COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS about the science of psychotherapy.

• PRACTICAL ADVICE ON AFFAIRS: and on dealing with the aftermath of an affair.
• WHY DO AFFAIRS HAPPEN?: historical and psychological framework to help us understand affairs-both the lead up, and the aftermath.
• A FRESH TAKE ON INFIDELITY: and how it impacts our lives.
• PART OF THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S LOVE SERIES: focusing on the joys and sorrows of relationships.

How to build a true library for happiness -  recommended reading from The School of Life, featuring 100 books that offer therapeutic insight and enlightenment 

There are about 130 million books in the world – and they are being added to at a rate of 4 million a year or so. 

 Which ones should we really read? What are the books that count? Which ones are going to make a real difference to us in the limited time we  have?

 This is The School of Life's answer: a definitive list of the 100 books that we feel should truly matter to anyone who cares about their development and growth, 100 books that are guaranteed to inspire, console and uplift us. We find books from all over the world, some very well known, others fascinatingly unfamiliar, united by a common ability to help us grow into the best versions of ourselves and to combat anxiety, despair and loneliness.

 This book answers one of the great questions we all face: how to assemble the perfect set of books with which we can acquire self-understanding, calm and emotional maturity.

• THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
• NAVIGATING OUR MOST AWKWARD SOCIAL SITUATIONS this practical and relevant guide offers tips and scripts.
• TWENTY CASE STUDIES AND ACTIONABLE ADVICE for dealing with common social dilemmas.
• HOW TO WIN PEOPLE OVER, how to approach strangers at a party, and how to write an effective thank you note-the chapters in this book address common perplexing social situations head on.
• BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY THROUGHOUT

On Divorce: An illustrated guide to the challenges and joys of separation is the debut title in a new portrait photography series by The School of Life.

Photographer Harry Borden’s portraits of divorce offer a powerful and often unexplored emotional window into the hearts and private moments of this common modern journey.

The photographs and accompanying texts were captured and recorded over two years by the British photographer Harry Borden (himself divorced). This series of portraits aims to understand and normalize something a lot of us go through, with testimonies from the subjects themselves, and thoughts and observations that pull us toward compassion, identification, curiosity, self-reflection and empathy. 

The book also features an introduction by The School of Life. 

A collection of 80 imaginative games and activities designed to engage and entertain without a screen.

Whether we’re big or small, it can be hard to get away from our screens. Most children spend between five and seven hours a day looking at some form of screen – and most grown-ups spend twice as much time. Screens promise endless entertainment, but the more time we spend with them, the more we lose sight of all that is strange, fascinating, and delightful in the world around us. Even when we’re stuck indoors, there are infinite possibilities for banishing boredom and having fun so long as we use our imagination. All we need are a few helpful suggestions....

Screen-Free Fun contains 80 of the weirdest and most wonderful activities children can do at home, all without using a screen. Rather than scrolling or tapping, you’ll be invited to draw, make, write, invent, dress up, hide, seek, and discover. You can paint like Picasso or meditate like Buddha; become an indoor entomologist or a home Olympian; make up a new language or a mythical creature; and even find the fun in some household chores.

Inventive and irreverent, this book is the perfect companion for humdrum days and wet weekends. It is a compendium of the world’s strangest, silliest and most stimulating activities.

• DISCONNECT from tech by connecting to children’s natural curiosity and creativity.
• 80 UNIQUE ACTIVITIES inspires creativity and curiosity.
• EASY you already have the materials around the house.
• ENTERTAINING inventive activities that keep kids entertained without a screen.
• EDUCATIONAL FUN encourages children’s natural curiosity through learning new facts and practicing new skills.
• GIFT eye-catching, colorful design.
• AGES 8 AND UP activities the whole family will enjoy.

This third book in the best-selling Big Ideas series introduces readers to the classics, as well as modern children’s fiction—a charming addition to Big Ideas for Curious Minds and Big Ideas from History

Great stories are often universal: our very souls shine with new ideas when we read them. Books can be so powerful, helping us through tricky times, offering us wisdom we haven’t learnt yet, showing us that there are people like us, or showing us the opposite, that other people live very different lives. Books can be a friend when you need one the most and you can use them to help and inspire others, too.

Big Ideas from Literature helps the child discover key ideas that lots of different books are trying to teach through the stories they tell – and helps the growing child develop empathy and resilience.

This book teaches children (and adults!) about the history of literature, from the first ever story that was written down to the invention of books just for children. The best children’s books become our dearest friends and companions. 

Children discover characters from a diverse range of books – including J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Young Dark Emu: A Truer History by Bruce Pascoe – and learn how these stories can help them better understand the world around them.

• OVER 150 RECIPES TO NOURISH THE MIND
• INTRODUCES SIXTEEN KEY INGREDIENTS that evoke emotions like hope, playfulness, and self love.
• INCLUDES "CONVERSATION MENUS" that prompt fascinating conversations for eating with friends.
• FULL PAGE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY THROUGHOUT

This little book teaches us about the history of dating, the best way to discuss our past on our date, what questions to ask a new partner, and how to learn from a bad date. Both heartfelt and perceptive, it provides us with an indispensable road map to the varied, sometimes delightful, sometimes daunting realties of dating. 

Dating might seem like a trivial and relatively inconsequential part of love, but it is in fact the key to finding a lasting relationship. Dating allows us to explore some of the biggest themes of romantic love; how to know if someone is right for us; how soon to settle and how long to search; how to be at once honest and seductive; how to say "no" if a situation doesn't feel right. The tone and practical advice in this little book never minimizes the agony, joys, and confusions of our dating days and nights but offers solace to the weary: there is a partner out there for all who seek. 

• A PRACTICAL GUIDE: to dating in the modern world. 
• PART OF THE SCHOOL OF LIFE'S 'LOVE' SERIES: focusing on the joys and sorrows of relationships. 
• ADVICE AND GUIDANCE: on how to make the most of our dating years. 
• AN INDISPENSABLE ROAD MAP: to the highs and lows of dating.

A guide to breaking free from the enduring, and sometimes damaging, behavioral patterns we learned in childhood. 

As we try to navigate the complexities and anxieties of adulthood, considering our childhoods can feel like a daunting task. They happened so long ago; we can probably barely remember, let alone relate to, the little person we used to be. But one of the most powerful explanations for why we struggle as adults is that we were denied the opportunity to fully be ourselves as children. 

Whether our parents or caregivers were strict disciplinarians, overly fragile, or distant and preoccupied, the way we were taught to act as children deeply influences how we behave as adults. We might have assumed the role of caregiver, become people pleasers, or learned to tell lies to protect ourselves, burying our true needs and desires deep underground. 

When we thoroughly examine our upbringings, the larger implications for our adult selves become clear. Once we understand the roots from which our flaws stem, we can begin to correct the harmful behaviors we mistakenly believe to be innate. 

This book is a guide to better understanding our younger selves in order to shape who we wish to be today. It explores to what extent we can pin our actions in the present to our experiences in the past, and how we can break free from the learned patterns of our childhoods.

• CONSTRUCTIVE ADVICE for moving on from our childhoods.
• DRAWING FROM THE PSYCHOLOGICAL teachings of Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein and Donald Winnicott.
• EXPLORES POPULAR CONCEPTS such as “The Golden Child,” splitting, and emotional inheritance.
• UNLEARN PROBLEMATIC CHILDHOOD HABITS to improve our current emotional condition.